Swordfish BBQ

Last weekend I had the onerous task of covering the BBQ, Blues, and Brew event at the Charleston Wine + Food Festival.  You can read my account of the event on the City Paper website.  While there, I took some great pics of the two swordfish that were barbecued by Dan Long of Crosby Seafood, but they ended up on the City Paper's cutting room floor--perhaps because, if you aren't totally into the whole "what the hell is that on that BBQ grill?" thing, you might have been a little skeeved out by it.  I myself thought they were alligators when I first got a glimpse of those reptilian snouts sticking out of the smokers and was mightily relieved to find out they were just massive six-foot long fish.

Here they are in all their glory for those who aren't too faint of heart:

The swordfish, for the record, was wrapped in banana leaves, and the resulting big chunks of meat (which were topped with tomato sauce, some sort of olive spread, and grated parmesan) were tender, tender, tender, and only slightly smoky--probably because all that banana leaf protection held in the moisture and kept out a lot of the smoke.  But, of course, I'm just speculating, having never slow-smoked my own banana leaf-wrapped whole swordfish before . . .

Okay, I do have to admit--that big eyeball is pretty damn freaky.  

I'll just sit here watching the email for that notification of my Pulitzer prize for photojournalism.